The easiest way to understand the current situation is the dominance of lifestyle anarchism in Copenhagen. The lack of a social anarchist alternative has opened the way for fascism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Anarchism_or_Lifestyle_Anarchism
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-social-anarchism-or-lifestyle-anarchism-an-unbridgeable-chasm
So, we have people playing at being anarchists, while the underlying social process is fascist:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyranny_of_Structurelessness
http://struggle.ws/hist_texts/structurelessness.html
I have seen this in other groups on the extreme left in Denmark. I got this reply to my above analysis and the comments:
People were kicked out of Bumzen citing false reasons. It was a coup from so called antifa people. They are not anarchists. They use violence and hidden strategies to protect their power and property. There is no justice structures to solve conflicts, so this is pure strength and intimidation. Don't look for justice. I would recommend you to avoid them and find real people sharing your values. Copenhagen is fucked.
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14 Feb. 2016:
I am sorry to report that when I stated that “Postmodernism opens the door to fascism and can’t close it again,” the organizer of a new Anarchist Reading and Discussion Group replied that we would, “Have to agree to disagree” on the status of postmodern social constructionism. My statement was the last line of this review:
http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2004/10/crowder.html
The Sokal Hoax had earlier unmasked the fraud perpetrated by the editors of the leading social constructionist journal, Social Text:
http://www.physics.nyu.edu/sokal/
Readers may find it hard to believe that anarchists in Denmark are influenced by fascist ideology. However, censorship appears to be common among those calling themselves anarchists and libertarian socialists. The earlier Occupy Copenhagen anarchist movement was undermined by a participant who appointed himself king of the Internet:
http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2012/01/occupycopenhagendk-hidden-history.html
The progressive/left newspaper, Informationen, had reported on the Sokal Hoax as a philosophic dispute, when it actually exposed fraudulent misrepresentation. Many academics were educated in social constructionist theorizing when that fad was at its hight and it appears that the effects are still clearly visible. A number of academic institutions were taken over by social constructionists at that time and continue to promote the ideology. One stronghold is the Copenhagen Business School’s Institut for Organisation. Other institutes there have social constructionists, and they are well represented at ITU and SDU.
No action has been taken by Internationalt Forum. The Secretariat has not responded to my request to take up this issue at a Board of Directors meeting.
ReplyDelete----------------------
24 Oct. 2918
To: Internationalt Forum
Please consider the following.
The situation in short:
I, a member of Internationalt Forum, have been banned from Ungdomshuset.
It is not clear who has taken this decision and a why it has been done.
There was a disagreement about the philosophical foundations for anarchism.
However, I don’t see how this could be the basis for a ban.
If I had been accused of sexism or violating some other rule it would make sense, but that isn’t the case.
I haven’t been told how to appeal this ban.
Therefore, I think it is very controversial that Internationalt Forum is having this meeting at Ungdomshuset.
So, I would like Internationalt Forum to intervene in this situation.
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In connection with the coming meeting, I thought you should know the following:
I arrived at Bumzen just as the David Rovics concert started on Oct. 14th and paid the recommended 25 kr. entrance fee.
During the break after the first set, I mentioned to David that there had also been shooting at demonstrators at the same location almost a hundred years earlier than the 1993 Copenhagen EU protest, which he had just been singing about. His most recent project is a series of songs about events in labor history, etc. He wanted to know how to say “sorte firkant”, etc.
As we were talking, a couple of men came over and asked me to come with them.
When we reached the sidewalk, the bigger man stated that I had been banned from Ungdomshuset and the ban also applied to Bumzen. This was news to me.
He said that I should leave.
I started to explain the background for the Ungdomshuset ban, but he said he wasn’t interested in discussion and that I should just leave.
I pointed out that I was standing on the public sidewalk.
He replied that there were children present and that I should just leave.
The message appeared to be that they preferred to avoid using force, but would use it if necessary.
I stated “This is fascism” and left.
I am using this definition of fascism:
It is a system of decision making / organization based upon power, as opposed to democracy where truth is the crucial factor:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586030/how-fascism-works-by-jason-stanley/9780525511830/
https://store.counterpunch.org/jason-stanley-episode-110
The background:
Some months ago, I was told by Thomas Christtreu:
www.facebook.com/thomas.christtreu
after a presentation by anarchists from Belarus at Ungdomshuset, that I had been banned from the house.
I asked who had issued that ban and was told it was the Monday night meeting.
I said, “Get me a letter.” However, I never received anything.
I had been at Ungdomshuset meeting with activists working in Rojava a couple of months earlier that was uneventful, so this was a total surprise.
Thomas is the organizer of the group RAVN:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Political-Organization/RAVN-anarkistisk-gruppe-Nordvest-281939348897989/
I was involved in the startup of the group.
I also did a presentation on self-determination theory, as a potential scientific foundation for anarchist organizing at one meeting.
See videos at the bottom of this page:
https://plus.google.com/communities/117365559607554536601
During the startup of the group, Thomas apparently worked behind the scenes to exclude me from the group:
At one meeting, we had a disagreement about the theoretical foundation for the work. He championed post-modern social constructivism. When I objected that it was not valid, he stated we would have to agree to disagree.
However, it became clear that he would not tolerate my alternative views. I stopped coming to the RAVN meetings. I was forced to post my comments on a blog:
https://plus.google.com/+DavidStodolsky/posts/chZKgaHH823
It is now clear that post-modernism doesn’t just fail to close the door to fascism.
ReplyDeleteOne of the journals that accepts post-modernism actually published a section of Hitler’s Mein Kampf with changed buzz words:
https://areomagazine.com/2018/10/02/academic-grievance-studies-and-the-corruption-of-scholarship/
Alt-right conspiracy theorists have embraced postmodern philosophy. This philosopher worked for Trump:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/03/jason-reza-jorjani-stony-brook-alt-right-arktos-continental-philosophy-modernity-enlightenment/
Connection between the events:
In discussion around the startup of RAVN at the beginning of 2016, I objected to a theoretical foundation that allowed fascism as a basis for anarchist organizing.
In 2018, I was told that I was banned from Ungdomshuset. There were no intervening incidents, even though I had been at the House repeatedly. I had tentatively concluded that Thomas was the only one interested in this “ban,” so I presumed I could safely ignore it. However, after seeing fascism in action at Bumzen, it is clear that theory and practice have been united. It now appears that Thomas Christtreu has been working to exclude me from all extra-parliamentary activist events.
If I respect this “ban” then it will undermine the democratic process within Internationalt Forum. Therefore, it would be best to treat this problem as an institutional issue between Internationalt Forum and Ungdomshuset.
The Big Picture:
At the current time, we appear to be facing an accelerating slide toward fascism in both the US and Europe. Post-modern social constructivism has provided a theoretical foundation for this slide. There were already warnings within academia of fascist tendencies with enthno-methodoly in the 1960s. This morphed into post-modernism in the 1980s. In the 1990s we had the “science wars,” in which well establish science was rejected as invalid by some academics. In the 2000s, we heard G. W. Bush rejecting his opponents as the “reality-based” faction. With Trump and current leadership in Denmark, controlling the message is the only thing that counts. Their view is that if it feels right, that is enough to make it true. Fake news has become the weapon of choice. Political opponents are censored or dismissed as crazy.
As a result of recent changes in the law concerning banning of organizations, the Justice Minister can now outlaw organizations by administrative order. This was demonstrated with the recent ban on LTF. “LTF will no longer be able to gather on the street and create fear. The temporary ban also means that gang members can be punished with up to two years in prison if they attempt to promote LTF” (https://www.thelocal.dk/20180904/danish-police-ban-organised-crime-gang). The gang wars including LTF resulted from disputes over control of public space. If there is a difference between the LTF activity and the act described above in a legal sense, I don’t see what it is. In both cases, fear is used to control access to public space. Hostility to Ungdomshuset by the Government is well known. Events like that described above could be an excuse for a ban. It is clear that the Government will use all means at its disposal against opponents. Even going beyond the law is an accepted practice by the Justice Minister, who has admitted to have been engaged in unlawful surveillance of the population over a period of years with no plans to stop. See appended. He would most likely be pleased, if a ban of Ungdomshuset generated a long running conflict that would distract from the privatization - what I call theft - of public assets that is taking place.
ReplyDeleteUngdomshuset has failed to maintain order within their organization. Internationalt Forum can help them by drawing attention to this issue. We should require full involvement of the leadership by making both informational and monetary demands. I should receive an apology signed by the leadership of Ungdomshuset and Bumzen. It should be posted both at each physical location and on each organization's website for a minimum of one month, with a full explanation of the events. A token payment of 12 kr. should be made to Internationalt Forum, in compensation for the administrative time expended in drawing attention to this issue. This corresponds to my payment for the half of the concert out of which I was cheated.
Why this is an important issue:
At the startup of Occupy Wall Street CPH, eight groups, of about 30 people each, were formed. The email addresses of everyone in the Internet Group were collected by a man who put them in his pocket and never used them. He established the Occupy Wall Street CPH website under his own personal account. The site had several defects. One problem was that it was impossible to post a Press Contact for Occupy Wall Street CPH. All of the groups that had formed had no support on the website. Coordination of Occupy Wall Street CPH, actually took place in a Facebook group that hardly anyone knew about. About a dozen people coordinated Occupy Wall Street CPH. So, the structure of Occupy Wall Street CPH was similar to what Occupy Wall Street CPH opposed. Attempts to get control over the Occupy Wall Street CPH website were resisted by repeated deceptions. It was only when it became clear that his lies would be exposed in a few moments at a General Meeting, that he followed the General Meeting decision to release the Occupy Wall Street CPH domain name. A full description of this is available via the above links. At Occupy Wall Street New York City, several co-operatives were formed that continued to exist after the protest ended. There was nothing left after Occupy Wall Street CPH disintegrated.
A group that depends upon volunteers for its operation relies upon all participants following the agreed upon principles of organization. If someone with a lot of free time secretly evades the agreement, including openness in decision making, they can gain effective control of the group. Something similar to what happened with Occupy Wall Street CPH appears to have occurred at Ungdomshuset. The solution is to expose the duplicity. If this isn’t done by the left/progressives, we will likely see Government intervention.
Summary:
Lifelong peace activist, who has published world-leading research on turn-taking in group dialogue, speaks out-of-turn(?) and is banned from House.
No one tells him about the ban, so he continues to use the House without incident for two years.
When he is told of the ban, he asked for details.
Receiving no information, he continues as before with no incident.
While helping an anarchist singer develop new material at another location, he is forced to leave due to the ban.
The saying that comes to mind:
You can’t make this stuff up.
The story would not be considered realistic enough to be used in a novel.
dss
On 13 Oct 2018, at 21:10, Internationalt Forum wrote:
Vi glæder os til at se jer!
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Appended Danish text has been deleted.
The key feature of a narcissistic personality disorder is the attempt to gain power over others. One way this is done is to make others feel like they are crazy.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, someone with a narcissistic personality disorder claiming to be an anarchist has a head start, since anarchists are against power being exercised over others. This seems to be an accurate description of Thomas Christtreu.
https://www.offtheclockpsych.com/podcast/narcissism
Social media use and narcissism. Some researchers have argued that people's narcissistic tendencies can be expressed and nourished by engaging with social media. Three meta-analyses that were based on up to 57 studies and 25,000 participants found some support for a link between social media and narcissism. Narcissists tend to have more social media friends, and the frequency of posting and sharing pictures is particularly strongly associated with narcissism.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, these relationships between social media use and narcissism appear to be larger in non-Western than in Western countries. The cultures in many non-Western countries may provide fewer opportunities for narcissists to show off and assert their superiority in the off-line world. So, narcissists in those countries may find social media more useful for getting attention from other people.
http://spsp.org/news-center/blog/appel-social-media-peril